Individuals with a USI will be able to easily access their training records online in a password protected secure environment. As well as helping students keep track of their training qualifications, the USI initiative will provide more precise data through longitudinal studies to help the Australian Government make sure that our Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector provides the skills businesses need – now and in the future. There are advantages for training organisations and industry too, as the USI will make our training system more efficient, streamlined and responsive.

Benefits for students

• students can get easy access to a complete record of VET achievements from a single, secure and password protected online source. This will be especially beneficial if they have lost their hard copy records or if the provider is no longer operating
• students can easily provide proof of their VET records to employers or other training organisations

Benefits for Australian industry and training organisations

• job applicants can quickly confirm their nationally recognised training qualifications
• training information easily can be shared between training providers and for Australian businesses
• smarter, evidence-based regulation to provide more transparency in the VET sector
• greater efficiency in interactions with government and regulators
• simplifying government VET programme eligibility and entitlement processing
• streamlined assessment of course prerequisites, credit transfers and assessment of eligibility for funding assistance.

Benefits for Government

The USI captures longitudinal data on course completions which is used to develop VET sector policy initiatives. This data will provide accurate and comprehensive information about students’ training achievements and movements within the VET system.

The USI initiative will also assist government with the management of their student entitlement programmes by providing a much clearer picture of how many students are in the VET sector. It will show the length of time students undertake VET and the pathways students are taking through the training system.

Collecting and analysing information is essential to ensuring that the VET sector can respond to students’ preferences and to the skills needs of industry and the Australian economy. The USI initiative will provide an important foundation for understanding and improving VET performance and for better meeting students’ needs.